Marche · Pesaro e Urbino
Urbania
The Montefeltro ceramics town on the upper Metauro, known as Casteldurante until Pope Urban VIII gave it his name in 1636.
Picked by Peter Benei
Letter to come
Why Urbania is on our list
It holds Città della Ceramica and Comuni Virtuosi.
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Visiting
- Best time
- Apr–Oct
- By car
- 1 h 32 min from Rimini
- Population
- 6,924
- J10°
- F13°
- M14°
- A17°
- M22°
- J28°
- J32°
- A31°
- S25°
- O20°
- N14°
- D11°
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
Daytime air temperature, averages for 2020–2024. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.
Why come
Urbania sits on the upper Metauro, thirteen kilometers downstream from Urbino. The original Ghibelline village was destroyed in 1277 and rebuilt seven years later by the Provençal Cardinal Guillaume Durand, who renamed it Castel Durante. The town passed to the Brancaleoni family in the fourteenth century and to the Dukes of Urbino in the fifteenth, who converted the Brancaleoni fortress into a summer residence and set aside the river island as a hunting reserve, the Barco Ducale, fitted with a small church.
Pope Urban VIII renamed the town Urbania in 1636 after his own name. The centro storico runs along the river, with the cathedral, the Porta Parco and the Loggia dei Mercanti marking the medieval and Renaissance core, while the ducal palace stands apart as the seat built over the old fortress and the Barco as the separated hunting ground across the water. A short walk from the old center, the Chiesa dei Morti holds the mummified bodies moved there once the original graveyard was closed.
Through the sixteenth century the town's maiolica ranked with the work of Urbino and Pesaro, and that production is still carried on today in workshops that keep the same name the town wore before the pope's renaming. A place that changed its name once by papal decree, and kept working in the trade that made it famous under the old one.
How to get there
From Ancona (AOI), about 1 h 37 min by car.
Rimini (RMI) is about 1 h 47 min away.
By car from the center of Perugia 1 h 46 min or Ancona 1 h 49 min.
Every town within reach of Ancona airport.
First time driving in Italy? Read our complete manual.
What to see
Palazzo Ducale
The older fortress is still legible beneath the ducal remodeling, and the palace was carried to completion by Girolamo Genga after Francesco di Giorgio Martini's original plans.
Barco Ducale
Hunting estate of the Dukes of Urbino, built 1465 with an attached Church of San Giovanni Battista, expanded 1594-1596 by Francesco Maria II Della Rovere.
Chiesa dei Morti e Cimitero delle Mummie
Former Cappella Cola, with a Gothic portal. The bodies were moved behind the altar after Napoleon's 1804 burial edict closed the church graveyard where they had originally been interred.
Bottega Storica di Ceramica Casteldurante
Active maiolica workshops continuing the Renaissance tradition, with a municipal collection in the palazzo documenting the sixteenth-century production.
Centro storico sul Metauro
Medieval and Renaissance core arranged along the river, with the Cattedrale dei Santi Cristoforo e Vitale, the Porta Parco and the Loggia dei Mercanti.
Living here
Could you live here?
Urbania meets our one rule for a small town.
- 6,924 people, inside our sweet spot of 5,000 to 20,000: a real town, still one community.
- Urbino, a city of 13,827, is 26 min by car. Closer than our 30 to 60 minutes: handy for everything, so check the town still keeps a life of its own.
The rules come from our series Where to Move in Italy, written from the places we have lived: Part 1, The End of the Road · Part 2, The Small Town · Part 3, The City · Part 4, The Postcard · Part 5, The Other Half. The towns we would pick are in Part 6, The Best Towns.
- Population 6,924, down 2% since 2015
- Nearest city Urbino, 26 min drive
- Nearest national health service hospital Urbino, 11 km as the crow flies · how healthcare works in Italy
- Homes in the center: €800 to €1,100 per m² to buy, €3.20 to €4.60 per m² a month to rent
All the numbers Common questions, designations, lists and sources.
More about living here
- Remote
- Pharmacy in town
- High school within a 30-minute drive
- Full fibre reaches 62% of homes
- Primary school in the comune
- Earthquake zone 2, medium hazard
- Ancona airport (AOI), 1 h 37 min drive, the nearest with scheduled flights
- Regional capital Ancona, 1 h 49 min drive
If you are moving here
Who lives here
11% of residents are foreign citizens, most often from China, Albania and Morocco, against 9% across Italy. 26 of them come from English-speaking countries or western and northern Europe, mostly the United States and Germany. There are 213 people over 65 for every 100 children under 15, against 216 across Italy. 24% of homes have no resident, holiday homes and empty ones counted together, against 27% across Italy. Pesaro e Urbino province ranks 31st of 107 in Il Sole 24 Ore's quality of life ranking for 2025.
Health and schools
The nearest emergency room is in Urbino, 11 km as the crow flies. The nearest major one is in Rimini, 41 km away. The nearest IB school is International School of Rimini, 43 km as the crow flies.
Information, not medical advice. Confirm with a professional.
Taxes
A home that is not your main one pays 1.06% a year in property tax, charged on the cadastral value rather than the price. A main home pays none unless it is in a luxury category. The town adds 0.8% to your income tax. 7% pensioner tax: this town is not in a qualifying area.
Information, not tax advice. Confirm with a professional.
What it costs
The average household in Marche spends about €2,480 a month, €620 of it on food, against about €2,170 across Italy. A family of three pays about €643 a year for water, on the Marche average.
Climate and risk
It is in climate zone E, on a scale from A, the warmest, to F, the coldest, and heating may run from October 15 to April 15, up to 14 hours a day, unless the mayor changes it. 5% of residents live in a zone the national maps rate medium for floods. 2% live in a zone rated high or very high for landslides.
These shares cover the whole comune, not any one street. Check an address on IdroGEO.
Moving from abroad? Which visa you need. Sources: ISTAT, the Ministry of Health, ISPRA, the Finance Ministry, the Ministry of Enterprise, Poste Italiane, the comuni, the IB, International Schools Database, Il Sole 24 Ore, Cittadinanzattiva.
Known for
CASTELDURANTE MAIOLICA
One of the three great Renaissance maiolica centers (with Urbino and Pesaro), producing prized tin-glazed wares through the sixteenth century.
MUMMY CEMETERY
Eighteen naturally mummified bodies in the Chiesa dei Morti, displayed since 1833, desiccated by a mold that drew moisture from the corpses.
PALAZZO DUCALE
Summer residence of the Montefeltro and Della Rovere dukes, designed by Francesco di Giorgio Martini from 1470 over the older Brancaleoni fortress.
Common questions
- What is Urbania known for?
- Urbania is the Montefeltro ceramics town on the upper Metauro, known as Casteldurante until Pope Urban VIII gave it his name in 1636.
- Where is Urbania?
- Urbania is a comune in the province of Pesaro e Urbino, in Marche, at 273 meters above sea level.
- What is the nearest airport to Urbania?
- The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Ancona (AOI), about 1 h 37 min by car.
- How long is the drive from Perugia to Urbania?
- About 1 h 46 min by car.
- When is the best time to visit Urbania?
- Best in Apr–Oct. July is the warmest month, averaging 32 degrees, and May the wettest, with about 13 rain days.
- Which other towns are like Urbania?
- Pergola, Sassoferrato and Matelica.
- How many people live in Urbania?
- 6,924 residents, by ISTAT's count on 1 January 2025.
- Is Urbania a good place to live?
- By the rules in our Where to Move in Italy series, Urbania is a small town that meets our one rule. The nearest city, Urbino, is 26 min away by car. The nearest national health service hospital is in Urbino, 11 km as the crow flies. Full fibre reaches 62% of homes.
Tags & data designations · numbers · sources
Recognized as
Landscape
The numbers
- Elevation: 273 m
- Population: 6,924
- Surface area: 77.53 km²
These figures were compiled from public directories: ISTAT, OpenStreetMap and Wikidata, and from the official listings of the guides named on this page. Town details change; verify with official sources before you travel.
Similar
Towns like Urbania
What all six share with Urbania: inland, away from the coast · between 3,000 and 10,000 people · hill towns
Our guide
Our nearest guide, 64 km away
Umbria: the towns, when to go, how to get there
The Umbria guide came out of the letter. Letters from the towns we visit. Free.
Read the guide: Two banks, no sea. 21 towns, the drive and train times, the months, where to eat and sleep.
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